Message to the Congress
Reporting on Regulatory Reform
To
the Congress of the
When
I took office I set in motion a plan to improve and rationalize the regulatory
activity of Federal agencies. The program was designed to ensure full analysis
of possible regulatory impacts, to bring about greater coordination within the
government, and to increase public information about and participation in the process.
To enhance presidential oversight, I issued Executive orders directing
regulatory agencies to justify their exercise of regulatory discretion,
demonstrate the likely benefits and costs of individual regulations, and better
inform the public of their plans and activities. To provide leadership for
these efforts to improve the regulatory process, I established the Presidential
Task Force on Regulatory Relief, chaired by Vice President George Bush. I
believe these steps have served the American people well and assured greater
constitutional accountability.
Experience
over the past 2 decades suggests the need for the President to establish
publicly the overall direction for regulatory agencies by announcing the
general, government-wide principles, both economic and social, to which
regulatory agencies should adhere as they implement their statutory
responsibilities. Our Administration has established a process in which the
Office of Management and Budget issues an annual Regulatory Program of the
United States Government setting forth the regulatory proposals of my
Administration for the coming year. The Regulatory Program improves agency
regulatory management by requiring agencies to observe the President's
regulatory priorities and coordinate with OMB and one another. In addition,
these reports provide the Congress and the American people -- before the
publication of any proposed regulation -- with a comprehensive outline of how
the Administration intends to exercise the discretion the Congress has provided.
The
President must also provide for day-to-day oversight of agency regulatory
developments. This oversight process, carried out through the Executive Office
of the President, includes monitoring agency activity, coordinating
government-wide issues, identifying issues of concern, and, with appropriate
interagency discussion, ensuring that any remaining issues are resolved.
This
Administration understands that American life is burdened by too much
regulation and that true regulatory reform must involve regulatory reduction.
Today, more than 100 Federal agencies maintain thousands of regulations that
have an enormous impact on how we live and what we do. Regulations tell us what
is safe and what we can buy. Government regulates how we make, price, sell,
transport, use, and discard the products of everyday American life.
This
pervasive government power can be used for good or ill. And as regulation grew
over the past 5 decades, government ``red tape'' became a great burden on our
free enterprise system. Over the last 7\1/2\ years, we have substantially
reduced that burden, cutting red tape and slowing the pace of new regulation.
When
I became President in 1981, I directed that Federal agencies, within the scope
afforded by law, should reduce the excess burden of government
regulation that is borne by every worker, consumer, business, and State and
local government in this Nation. Under the guidance of the Presidential Task
Force on Regulatory Relief, Federal agencies have eliminated unnecessary regulatory
costs ranging in the tens of billions of dollars. Federal reporting
requirements have been eased wherever possible, and we have worked hard to
ensure that the paperwork burden imposed on the American people does not get
out of control. As we have weeded out and eliminated wasteful, unnecessary, and
intrusive regulatory standards, we have also encouraged the development of
useful regulations that will increase benefits to society as a whole.
The
steady but enormous progress the Vice President and I have made over the past
7\1/2\ years to improve the way government regulates has been one of our
Administration's proudest achievements. However, much more remains to be done.
Managing the Federal regulatory machinery will continue of necessity to be a high
priority for Presidents in the years ahead. For this reason, I am certain the
new Chief Executive will want to continue this endeavor to serve the public
interest by insisting that regulatory activity be productive.
Ronald
Reagan
The
White House,